


Jun's birthday

by tangiblewhimsy



Series: Street Kids [11]
Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-10 16:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/468288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangiblewhimsy/pseuds/tangiblewhimsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aiba has been gone on a construction job for several weeks and Jun is anxious for his return. Part 1 of 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jun's birthday

_Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick._

Jun felt the muscles above his right eye spasm involuntarily as his eyes fluttered, repressing a disgruntled sigh. Reaching up he smoothed his hand over his brow, sliding his fingers up to rake through his hair. The strands were dried and tangled in his fingers, preventing him even the distraction of grooming properly.

Looking at the clock that hung on the wall beside the open door to Sho's office it defiantly read back 3:29 PM, just as it had second ago. No matter how much he glared at it, his will could not bend time to make it faster. This fact was beginning to seem most distressingly inconvenient.

Aiba had been away for a few weeks now. In the time the he had been gone, Jun had been staying with Ohno (at Aiba's request, though Jun knew it was more because Aiba wanted to make sure Jun wouldn't be lonely than because he though Jun needed to spend more time with Ohno). While the days had passed in a strange ebb and flow of time, some days zipping by while others stretched on forever, Jun hadn't really _missed_ Aiba. He'd managed to preoccupy his time with helping Ohno around his apartment or around the cafe. With making sure Nino didn't get arrested when left to his own devices—all things that made Sho infinitely grateful for Jun's existence.

Aiba had finally let Sho talk him into taking one of those part-time jobs he was always harassing him about. A construction job that provided a company dorm for workers for the duration of the task. Had Jun known what Aiba was up to all of those afternoons he'd spent locked up in Sho's office, the young man probably would have been working just as hard to seek employment with Aiba. He could pull his own weight. The idea of Aiba working to support not only himself but Jun and (sometimes) Nino without them contributing...It did not sit well with Jun at all.

But today Aiba's job was over. Today he was leaving the construction company's dorm. Today Aiba was coming back.

Sighing, Jun resumed resting his head in the palm of his hand as he leaned on the counter beside Ohno. His eyes drifted to the older man briefly as Nino emerged from Sho's office and riffled through Ohno's pockets wordlessly before disappearing into the back room again. While it was both mildly amusing and disturbing to watch the exchange the event was soon over and Jun was left staring, quiet and sullen, at the door of the TYPENET cafe.

An hour passed and the sun outside began to burn orange. Another hour and the orange bled into gold. Jun stood, rubbing at his neck and shoulders absently. He wandered back through the open door to Sho's office and sat down one end of an oddly upholstered love seat; the other end having been claimed by Nino as a sort of nest several months ago. 

Sho turned to him as he entered and smiled sympathetically. "It's a long trip, you know?"

Jun just nodded, crossing his legs and leaning back into the over-stuffed couch. 'Sixish' was Aiba expected time of arrival. When Jun had spoken with him on the phone a few days back he'd offered to come meet him at the train station (it wasn't as if he had much else to do with his day), but Aiba had turned him down. Which left Jun with nothing to do but wait.

Jun flinched instinctively as something flew at him, hitting him in the arm before glancing off of the limb and landing in his lap. Blinking down at the shiny plastic dustcover of a manga volume, Jun looked over at Nino.

"You're twitchy. Distract yourself," Nino instructed sharply. He then turned to Jun and smiled sweetly, a sly gleam in his eye. "Or I could distract you." The suggestion was in no way innocent and probably wouldn't mean anything pleasurable for Jun. At least not lastingly pleasurable. Ninomiyas were evil and not to be trusted.

Jun picked up the tankouban (a pink and white volume with some wide-eyed, frilly heroine on the cover) and swatted at Nino with it. However, he did grin a bit and settled in with the book. It didn't really matter what he was reading, he was just wasting time.

Barely making it a chapter into his comic, however, Jun heard the digital bell at the front of the cafe and looked up with a start. Glancing at Sho, Jun was relieved to see his own eagerness reflected in the manager's face.

Abandoning the comic and taking long strides Jun (quickly followed by Sho and Nino) was met with the sight of Aiba hugging at Ohno over the counter. Pulling back he pat Ohno on the shoulder and grinned over his head at the group crowding outside of Sho's office.

"I'm back!" as he grinned Aiba's teeth stood out a brilliant white against a perfect gold tan, his hair flecked with sun-dyed streaks. He was practically the embodiment of summer.

"Welcome back," Nino and Sho chimed in unison, turning to one another before bursting out into laughter.

"Welcome back," Jun echoed, stepping out from behind the counter to be pulled by Aiba into a hug. He smelled like sweat and dirt and sunlight. Individually many of these things weren't particularly attractive, but as they commingled with Aiba and the sterile and conditioned air of the cafe Jun could not stop some part of his brain from registering the scent as something comforting. Something he was glad to have back.

As they stepped away from one another a queer noise squealed its way up from Aiba's belly. Biting his lips around a grin and failing to look apologetic Aiba giggled. "I'm kind of hungry. I didn't get lunch on the train." turned to hug Sho and Nino each in turn. "Can we go get something to eat?"

Sho smiled apologetically. "Ohno and I aren't off work for a bit longer." Seeing the disappointment light in Aiba's eyes, however, Sho faltered. "Um...How about we order something and have it delivered here? We can eat in the office. Sound good?"

Jun caught a flash of something past over Aiba's face. It looked like a twinge of dissatisfaction with the compromise. However, the shadow was quickly replaced by another brilliant smile and an enthusiastic nod. "Sounds great!"

Migrating back into Sho's office, Nino leaped from the floor and on to Aiba's back. He didn't manage the exactly appropriate altitude to make it over Aiba's backpack comfortably, however, and merely ended up locking his arms around Aiba's neck. Aiba took it like a sport, however, and grasped Nino's arms and decided to drag him to Sho's office like that anyway, bending to dig his pack into Nino's soft underbelly. Jun frowned at the pair halfheartedly, a scathing comment about their noise level carrying across the chaos.

They ordered Italian food. It seemed on the pricey side of the lot of them, but no one mentioned it. This was a celebration, whether they had a legitimate reason to feel it was or not.

Nino took turns with Aiba drifting from the office to the front counter to keep Ohno included in the conversations until Ohno's replacement showed up for the evening. Then the five holed up in the office until all of the food was gone or cold beyond edible. 

As Jun was leaning back from rummaging around in his bag he spied Sho and Aiba on the opposite side of Sho's desk. Their heads were bent together and they were talking quietly. Sho glanced over and saw Jun's gaze.

Ever a master of stealth and subtly, Sho's eyes widened and he froze in whatever his conversation with Aiba had been. He smiled at Jun in what appeared to be an attempt at innocent nonchalance but really came off as having come across a sour smell. Sho stepped away from Aiba and cleared his throat a little.

"Uh, hey Nino," he said, avoiding Jun's not curious and very intent stare. Nino looked up from where he had been holding a pair of plastic forks for Ohno to model miniature set of goal posts. "That game you wanted to borrow came the other day. You want to pick it up tonight?"

"M'kay," Nino turned back to the important matter of his forks.

Jun continued to stare at Sho. Sho continued to avoid Jun's eyes. Clearing his throat again, Sho's voice carried with it the tone of having an underlying meaning. "Uhm...Well, I'm leaving now. So..."

Nino looked up again. "Oh. Guess we're out then," he turned back and smiled at Ohno and then Jun. "G'night!"

Aiba latched on to both Sho and Nino as they approached the door. "Bye! See you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Right. Take care," Nino made a face at being squished into an impromptu group hug while trying to pull on his jacket.

"We should probably go too," Jun said, looking at Ohno's wrist watch and seeing the time. "It'll be pretty dark soon." Jun leaned back as Ohno leaned forward, not bothering to bring his wrist to himself to check the time.

"Ah! The trains will stop running soon. I should head out too," he sighed as he stood up.

There was some clean up (mostly swift movements of swiping cartons into a miserably inadequate rubbish bin) and the five slowly trudged their way out of the office. Gathering their various bags and jackets they made their way out on to the street in a veritable throng. There was the minimal amount of hovering between the five of them. No one really wanted to break up the evening, but they all had to go their separate ways at some point.

Ohno was the first to break the awkwardness by taking his leave. Sho and Nino soon followed, as they actually had to catch trains going the same direction.

Jun turned to instinctively head toward one of his, Nino's, and Aiba's typical haunts when Aiba caught his elbow.

Grinning wide, Aiba shook his head excitedly. "C'mon! I found a new place. I wanted to check it out!"

Jun tried not to frown. Aiba had a good eye for places for the lot of them to shelter in, typically. The problem was that there were new people moving into and out of areas all of the time. It had been a long day and he had expended a lot of energy at Aiba's welcome home. He was honestly too tired to be as alert as he ought to be scouting out a new location. But he was also too tired to try and fight against Aiba's energy.

"Where?" he should at least have some idea of their chances if he knew the surrounding area.

"It'll be a surprise!" Aiba said excitedly and tugged Jun towards a bus station.

Suspicion began to rise in Jun as Aiba lead him deeper into the city and away from any abandoned areas that they favored. He noticed that Aiba, try as he might, failed to keep a really strong grin from slipping on to his face. He was excited about something, and while that was not on unusual, Jun had never seen Aiba this excited about finding a place to sleep. Images from earlier flit through Jun's head and he began to piece things together.

Aiba had planned something.

So lost in thought was Jun that he hadn't noticed Aiba signal for a stop. Rather, he found himself being tugged out of his seat and lead off of the bus by Aiba. Following the lanky boy at a trot, Jun was now honestly sort of annoyed.

"Where the hell are we going?" Jun breathed a bit hard as he followed Aiba up a steep incline.

"Just wait," there was mirth and laughter in Aiba's voice. Jun was about to let his weariness get the best of him and make some sharp comment when he walked into Aiba's shoulder.

Aiba had stopped and was grinning up at the neon sign of a hotel. "Surprise!" He thrust out his hands and wiggled his fingers, just in case Jun had managed to lose the capacity to read.

"Uh..." There wasn't much Jun could think to say. He was sure the hotel was nice, and everything, but it certainly wasn't what he'd been expecting. "What are we—"

"WAIT!" Aiba slapped a hand over Jun's mouth to stop him, causing Jun to jerk away violently. "Just wait! Don't say anything yet." Aiba's hand slid down and grasped at the sleeve of Jun's jacket. "C'mon. Just follow me."

Against his better judgment, Jun did precisely that. He allowed Aiba to pull him along by his coat. Up the stairs, through the entrance, through the lobby, past other guests to the elevator. When Jun tried to point out to Aiba that at a hotel you have to _check in_ Aiba simply held up a hand again and told him to wait some more.

On the sixth floor Aiba tugged Jun through a maze of carpeted hallways before reaching a door and pulling out a keycard. Unlocking the door, Aiba ushered Jun inside with a grin and a bow.

For as intelligent as he considered himself to be, Jun was fairly certain he had no idea what was going on anymore. Stepping inside, he dropped his bag gingerly into a chair that sat beside a dresser.

"It's not very ritzy or anything, but I figured you would be okay with it," he could hear Aiba from behind him. The lights went on and Aiba ducked into the bathroom, turning on the lights in there. "And here you've—eh?" Aiba's head popped back out of the bathroom door and be blinked at Jun curiously. "Come on, come look."

Dazed, Jun did exactly that.

The bathroom was not spacious, but it had an actual, western-style bathtub and a shower. On the counters were...

"Shampoo?" Jun picked up one of the bottles curiously. It wasn't an expensive brand, but it wasn't cheap, tacky, or stolen either. And it wasn't oddly scented.

"Ah! And some soaps and stuff. I wasn't sure exactly what you used, so I just picked up some of the essentials. I'm sorry it couldn't be better," Aiba looked thoughtfully at the myriad of bath items.

"Wait," Jun looked up in realization. "You mean you got these for me?" He was too tired to bother hiding his shock.

Aiba grinned and nodded. Wandering back out of the bathroom he went into the main body of the room. Jun followed, shampoo still clasped in-hand.

"You can choose whichever bed you want, and since it's MatsuJun's birthday you can even have the extra pillow," Aiba rattled off quickly.

"My birthday?" Jun repeated dumbly. "How...How did you know it was my birthday??"

Aiba turned and stared at Jun openly. "You made a bet with Nino about who was older and who was younger. He told you his birthday and you told him yours."

Jun searched his memory desperately for this event. "That happened _months_ ago. You remember that??"

Aiba giggled some, his face breaking into a grin. "I can actually pay attention, you know." He then dropped his bag on the floor space between the two full-sized beds. "Since you're only 17 I had to rent the room in my name which is why I'm here. But I figured you wouldn't mind since you'd get an entire bed to yourself tonight."

As Aiba continued to babble, looking about the room with a mixture of pride and worry, Jun could do nothing but stare. It all made sense now. Aiba went away to work, not because Jun and Nino were getting hard to feed, but because Aiba wanted to give him a _bath_ and a _bed_ for his birthday. Aiba had planned it all out with Sho. The job, the "welcome back" dinner...Then it came to Jun how easily Nino had let himself be led off. The little bastard had been in on it too. Ohno's calm and composure leaving the group first, not put-out at all by the fact they were breaking up after being reunited for the first time in weeks. The fact that he'd let Jun stay at his home so randomly. _He'd_ been in on it too.

Turning, Aiba stopped as he caught sight of Jun. With a grin he said, "You should probably go run your bath. It should take a little bit before there's enough water to enjoy it."

For a lack of anything better to do, Jun turned around and did exactly what he was told. From within the bathroom he could hear Aiba moving about the room, getting ready for bed.

Jun brought over a variety of things from the counter that Aiba had bought. Shampoo, _conditioner_ , a nail brush, a loofah...

He spent longer than he really had any right to submerged in the hot water. It was practically cold by the time he pulled himself out, toweling off in soft hotel towels that were fluffy in their terrycloth-y goodness. He felt cleaner and more relaxed than he had in a very, very long time.

When he opened the bathroom door, wearing only a pair of threadbare sweats and a towel draped around his shoulders, Jun peered cautiously into the dark. Padding his way out, relishing in the soft feeling of the clean carpet underfoot, Jun paused.

Aiba had fallen asleep on top of one of the beds without even pulling back the coverlet. Jun recalled how Aiba had said that Jun could have a bed all to himself tonight.

Then he thought about all of trouble and strife Aiba had just gone through to do all of this for him. All of the nights Aiba (along with Nino) had nudged him closer to dry patches of cement while he slept so he didn't wake up with wet feet and a running nose. All of the times Aiba had oh-so-stealthily taken care of him and Nino without their knowledge or consent.

Jun made his way over to space between the beds (only kind of stubbing his toe on the way). He pulled a few of the pillows off and tossed them on the bed with Aiba. He then yanked the coverlet off and dragged it over to cover the pair of them as Jun slid onto the bed next to his sleeping friend.

In the dark he looked up at the ceiling and tried to ignore the burning in his nose and eyes. He reached up and wiped away what was most definitely _not_ tears, thank you very much.

As he fell asleep Jun came to the silent understanding that he had much better friends than he had ever deserved.


End file.
